This invention relates to a bathtub and ancillary equipment particularly intended for use by those who are disabled.
A conventional bathtub can prove to be difficult and even dangerous for a person to use who has even a slight physical handicap and others such as those who are elderly, infirm, or partially paralyzed are often denied a proper bath unless assistance is available. In hospitals as well as other institutions, it is common practice to employ some form of hoisting equipment to raise a handicap patient and lower him into a tub where he must be washed by an attendant before being removed again using the same equipment. The tub in this instance must of necessity be deep and of small circumference so that the patient can be seated in an upright and suitably supported position which makes the entire bathing operation an awkward and time consuming task to perform. The suggestion has been made to construct institutional bathtubs so that they can be entered through a side or end door but the problem remains of properly seating and supporting the patient once entered into such a tub and no solution to this problem appears to be offered by the presently available equipment.